1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a print control method that applies to a print system in which a client computer installed with an application and a printer driver is connected to a printer via a communication medium. More specifically, the present invention relates to an information apparatus and a print control method configured to change print attribute in the case where different print attributes are set to specific pages in a midpoint of a print job with respect to print data produced by the application.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a demand that in performing printing through an application by using a printer driver, a print attribute different than a print attribute for an entire job should be set to a specific page or a specific page range.
For example, in producing a document including a plurality of chapters, there is a case where it is desired that a color paper is used only for a first page of a chapter and a white paper is used for other pages. In this case, the setting is such that a white paper is used for the entire job and a color paper is used only for a first page of a chapter. The latter setting for the color paper is different than the print attribute setting for the entire job. Further, there is a case where it is desired that a setting different than the print attribute setting for the entire job is performed to specific page or page range with respect to paper size, one-sided printing or two-sided printing, finishing, or color setting.
In this regard, in recent years, a printer driver is capable of performing a print attribute setting to a specific page or page range that is different from the print attribute setting for the entire job. Thus, printing can be implemented by changing the print attribute at a page break and applying different print attributes to respective pages. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-126871 discusses a system in which a rendering command of a document is issued from an application to a rendering unit (i.e., graphic device interface, hereinafter referred to as “GDI”) of an operating system (hereinafter referred to as an “OS”) and a printer driver receives a metafile that the GDI produces so as to produce print data. In a system like this, a printer driver converts a received metafile into print data according to print settings made page by page. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-058334 discusses a technique in which intermediate data that a GDI produces is spooled, the intermediate data is edited according to a setting as to a number of copies for each page, and a print instruction is issued via the GDI again so as to produce print data whose number of copies is separately set for each page.
As described above, a typical printer driver receives a rendering command from an application via a GDI so as to produce a print job by packing print data for each page which is produced based on the received rendering command.
Meanwhile, in recent years, an application itself directly produces a page description language (PDL) code so as to send the produced PDL code via a printer driver. For example, an application produced by Adobe Systems, Inc. is capable of producing print data having a postscript (hereinafter referred to as “PS”) format. The PS data can also be produced by a printer driver. However, with respect to a document (image) produced by the application of Adobe Systems, Inc., when a rendering command is issued according to a GDI of an OS, a quality of the image is degraded because the image quality depends on a function of the GDI.
For example, a GDI does not reproduce gradation very well. Accordingly, in conforming to a GDI rendering command in Microsoft® Windows®, it is necessary to segment a rendering command by a unit in which lightness and color tint are stepwise changed. Accordingly, it is difficult to perform gradation such as tone reproduction.
In the technique in which an application itself produces print data, high-quality print data can be produced without conforming to a rendering function of a GDI. In such a print processing system in which an application produces print data that can be interpreted by a printing apparatus (a system like this is called a “pass-through system”), a rendering unit of an OS and a printer driver do not process the print data. In the pass-through system, a printer driver does not perform analysis and editing to print data, and accordingly, a print attribute cannot be changed while a print job is being performed.
In order to eliminate this defect, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-091728 discusses a technique in which when a specific print setting such as N-up and bookbinding is specified through a user interface screen of a printer driver, use of a pass-through processing system is inhibited so that the printer driver can produce print data, instead of allowing an application to produce print data. Since a printer driver inhibits an application to use a pass-through processing system, a print attribute can be changed page by page, in addition to performing N-up printing and a bookbinding printing. However, in this case, just as in the case of a conventional technique, an application needs to issue a rendering command by using a rendering function that depends on a GDI of an OS, which degrades print quality.
As described above, in a pass-through processing system of a conventional technique, an application itself directly produces a PDL code, and a printer driver does not perform any processing. Accordingly, a print attribute cannot be changed while a print job is being executed.
In addition, in processing where a printer driver produces print data, an application issues a rendering command in conformity to a rendering processing capacity of an OS. Accordingly, quality of a document produced by a high-performance application is undesirably degraded.
In order to eliminate these defects, there is a method of producing a print job called a “job ticket system”. In the job ticket system, print data produced by an application is sent to a printer together with a job ticket that includes a print attribute for each page. The job ticket refers to data that include settings for print attributes. The job ticket is added to a header portion of a print job and sent to a printer separate from print data for each page. In this manner, the print data itself is produced by an application, and accordingly, the high image quality can be maintained. In addition, a print setting can be changed while a print job is being performed because print settings for each page are described in the job ticket.
However, in the job ticket system, a printer needs to analyze a job ticket. Accordingly, a function for changing a print attribute during a print job cannot be provided to a general-purpose printing apparatus.